Creating dashboards isn’t just about storing information. They’re useful for monitoring, analyzing and sharing insight in an efficient way. Useful dashboards can elevate data analysis tasks, and bridge the gap between data and action. Viewers should be able to look at a dashboard and go, “I understand what’s going on and exactly what I need to do now.” Sometimes, dashboards, like the one below, aren’t created to their full potential, which masks not only the work that went on behind the scenes – but also makes the insight gathered obsolete to other viewers due to the level of comprehension. This guide is a breakdown of our top 5 best practices for dashboard design to communicate data stories.
While this guide will focus on displaying technical data in a digestible and impactful way, primarily benefiting executives and business users, these tips are best practices that will strengthen every dashboard. The security operations center (SOC) or network operating center (NOC) analyst-at-large can benefit from having a more effective visual format for their everyday use, clear information for easy onboarding of new and future team members, and important data and visuals that will make cross-functional collaboration easier.